Ginobili says Argentina have 5 to 10 percent chance of defeating US side – Olympics News
As the Argentinean men basketball team prepares for their semi final clash against gold medal favourites USA at the London Olympics, they know that they are the underdogs in the fixture.
The Argentine side defeated fellow South Americans, Brazil, in the quarter final to reach the semis, and have been playing a fine brand of basketball with a lot of grind involved. However, they realize the potential of their rivals
and understand that they will have to play a near perfect game if they want to beat the favourites for the gold medal.
Manu Ginobili, who is the leader of the Argentine team and a veteran to the NBA where he plays for the San Antonio Spurs, knows the players on the U.S roster very well. He plays against them regularly in the league and realizes
what they can bring to the table on any given day.
Talking to Reuters, Ginobili said:
“The odds are against us. We have a 10 percent or even a five percent chance of winning but we are going to fight for this.”
Argentina will play the U.S side in the semi finals of the basketball tournament for the third time in three successive Olympics. They got the better of the U.S side in the 2004 Olympics on way to a gold medal, but the U.S team
got revenge in the 2008 Beijing Olympics when they defeated Argentina to eventually take the gold medal.
Both sides have met two times in the past few weeks. The first encounter was an exhibition game in Barcelona before the Olympics kicked off, which Argentina lost 86-80. The second was a pool game earlier this week in which the
U.S side cruised to a 126-97 victory. Hence, Argentina know well what to expect from the U.S side and what needs to be done to defeat them.
“We are going to try and turn the ball over less. Make a few shots in the second half and don’t let them run. Then if they get inspired and LeBron (James) or Kobe Bryant or someone get hot and hit 20 threes like they did in the
last game, then there’s nothing you can do,” added Ginobili.
Argentina have plenty of talent of their side as well, with Ginobili, Luis Scola and Carlos Delfino making up the core of the team. They realize they have a daunting task ahead of them but also know that they can make it happen,
especially after their exhibition game in which they came close enough to defeat the formidable U.S team.
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